In recent years, a terminal such as a mobile phone and a mobile information terminal capable of a short range wireless communication using a technology such as Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) has been used. In such a short range wireless communication, a communication between a terminal and a reader is established only when a user intentionally holds the terminal over the reader or moves the terminal close to the reader since the communication range is limited to an order of several tens of cm. Thereby, information to be communicated is prevented from being leaked to a third party.
However, when the user loses the terminal or the terminal is stolen, there is a risk that the terminal may be improperly used by a third party. In response to such a risk, a means such as a remote lock function of the terminal is provided. Furthermore, a technology has been proposed in which a function of a non-contact IC chip is enabled only when a user has been authenticated by a biometric authentication (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-53808). In addition, in some mobile terminals, a security function of a short range wireless function by means of a fingerprint authentication, which is a kind of a biometric authentication, is provided.
Biometric authentication is a technology for performing an identity verification using a physical feature such as a fingerprint, a face and a vein or a behavioral feature such as a signature and voice. These features are referred to as biometric information. In a biometric authentication, registered biometric information, which is biometric information of a registrant in advance, and input biometric information, which is biometric information of a user obtained in a situation that an identification of the user is required, are compared (matched). When the input biometric information matches the registered biometric information, it is verified that the user is the registrant. Biometric authentication is used for identity verification because only the registrant can provide legitimate biometric information when user verification is required.
In a technology in which a non-contact IC chip is enabled according to a result of a biometric authentication, there remains a risk that a terminal may be improperly used when the terminal is lost or stolen with the non-contact IC chip being enabled. In response to such a problem, a technology of setting an enabled time during which a short range communication device is enabled has been proposed (for example, refer to Published Japanese Translation of PCT International Publication for Patent Application (Kohyo) No. 2008-536347).